Planning, tracking, and optimising advertising and trade spend has become table stakes for marketers at many consumer-goods companies. Despite those advances, consumer promotions and engagement (CPE) remains something of a forgotten area of marketing spend. CPE, which includes in-store consumer activation and out-of-store engagement efforts, has too often been overlooked and undermanaged. However, optimising CPE can, in fact, help businesses...

CMOs are confident about their budgets increasing next year, according to Gartner – but if money is to increase, then it needs to correlate directly to business initiatives.

The analyst firm has put together a missive based on interviews with more than 600 marketing executives, with almost two thirds (63%) of CMOs expecting their budgets to go up in 2019. Budgets have remained steady this year, comprising just over a...

Now that the end of the year is in sight, many marketers will look back and review the flurry of activity that was 2018. GDPR. Fighting for budget. New platforms. Avoiding potential crises. Metrics. More metrics.

It’s been a busy year – and for that reason, it’s arguably forgivable that the majority of digital marketers today are still breaking the very first rule of marketing: build the...

Starting a loyalty program can lend a major boost to your customer retention efforts — and your bottom line. But it’s a complex undertaking that demands time, strategic thinking and teamwork. To make sure your efforts pay off, get started on the right foot by avoiding these six common loyalty program mistakes.

Mistake 1: Thinking all loyalty technology providers are the same

When it comes to loyalty platform vendors, one size does not fit all. Besides basic differences like price and...

Influencer marketing has become all the rage in an industry where social media is increasingly at the epicenter. The early days of influencer marketing were characterised by a less than structured approach and lacked what would usually be considered a stitched-up strategy. Then larger brands began dabbling in the space under the advice and counsel of third-party influencer marketing specialists, who brought methodology to the process. The net result was a rise in...

Forget the products and services you’re offering for a minute; your brand’s visual presence is arguably the most powerful way to resonate with your audience.

But don’t think a visual identity is about colour palettes and kerning. In a crowded and noisy digital marketing landscape, brands have to consider frequency, volume and variety across an ever-growing range of customer touchpoints, often spanning multiple markets.

Grant Munro is the senior VP of Shutterstock Custom, and an expert in changing the way...

A “worrying gap” has been discovered between the low adoption of digital marketing by management consultancy firms and the digital-first approaches now demanded by their clients.

As reported by Consultancy.UK and part of the UK-based ‘State of Digital Marketing in Professional Services 2018’ report, a reliance on traditional word of mouth referrals is lingering among professional...

No matter where they are in their journey, buyers have access to more information than ever before. While companies think that providing more content is helpful, buyers can find it overwhelming.

For this reason, buyers find it easier to put off a buying decision rather than make one. In order to differentiate from market competitors, organisations need to provide prospects with exactly the right content, at the right time, in a...